1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device, an image processing method and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been significant advances in technologies relating to the distribution of digital image data (hereinafter referred to as “image data”). In relation to these technologies, notable advances have been made in technologies for the distribution and recording of high quality image data. Of these notable technologies, technologies relating to the encoding and decoding of image data are attracting a high degree of attention. Image data with a high degree of spatial resolution and temporal resolution have an extremely large data size. For that reason, users wish to efficiently compress the encoded image data to distribute or record it. Given this situation, there is demand for the development of encoding technologies allowing the compression of high resolution image data with higher compressibility, and the development of highly advanced decoding technologies that allow play back at a higher spatial resolution.
In relation to these technologies, a method is suggested, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-312276 and in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-312277, to generate image data with a high degree of both spatial resolution and temporal resolution by combining first image data and second image data. The first image data has low spatial resolution, but high temporal resolution (for example, video data etc.), and the second image data has high spatial resolution but low temporal resolution (for example, a series of picture data etc.). With this method, the technology relates to the prediction of motion vectors between frames using the first image data. The motion vectors and the second image data are then used to correct the high frequency components of the first image data. With this technology, a frame from a selected point in time that is not included among the second image data is generated using a motion vector detected from the first image data and a frame from the second image data from a point in time close to the selected point in time. Further, image data storage and playback devices that generate image data with high spatial and temporal resolution using the technology described above are also described in the above-mentioned documents.
Alternatively, a technology termed super resolution is well known as a method to generate high resolution images from a plurality of low resolution images. The technology known as super resolution combines a plurality of overlapping low resolution images, and calculates the pixel value of each pixel corresponding to a single-frame high resolution image. Using this method, high resolution images can be realized with a high resolution exceeding the resolution of image sensors such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). For example, super resolution technology is used in the generation of high resolution satellite photographs. However, when compared to methods where high resolution image data that includes high frequency components are used to correct images, the high resolution performance of the super resolution technology is substantially poorer.